Joe Cornish Interview

"Movies Are Attracted To Crime And Underworld"

Quick Bio

Joe Cornish’s work path has been nothing short of extraordinary. A British TV comic and radio and TV host and writer, he has delved into movies, writing Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, two groundbreaking black comedies that had a fresh sensibility and redrew the rules.

Cornish’s latest effort, the smart and original horror drama, Attack the Block (in theaters now), has already been hailed as one of the best films of the year. It redefines the often lackluster horror genre with vitality and freshness, and stars unknown youngsters who have never been in front of a camera before. Attack the Block is movie magic at its best.

A gang of adolescent boys attack a woman as she walks through the park to her council estate flat in a crime-ridden part of London. Their escape is thwarted by strange and violent attacks from the sky. Soon, attackers and victim are clinging to each other for protection from the invaders, and their territory is about to become hell on earth. Guided by their own nascent intelligence, the kids face the alien invasion as no one ever has before in the movies.

Cornish’s marketing budget is almost nonexistent. But early word-of-mouth screenings have exploded and word has spread to social media. With a tip of the hat to E.T., Attack the Block is about to justify all that buzz. And there’s an extra payoff for Cornish, as we discovered during a chat with him in Los Angeles.

You have reinvigorated the horror genre with Attack the Block. People love it. Are you taken aback by the praise?

Joe Cornish: I’d like to meet those people and make friends with them and share a house with them. Surprised? I guess I am. The funny thing is, I haven’t had much time to absorb it. This is my first movie, so the process is new to me. What I need is more time for rest, reflection and relaxation! I’m massively excited and couldn't be more thrilled that people get it and understand it.

The opening bike chase is utterly original. I've never seen anything like it. The look, feel and tonality are unique.

JC: There was inspiration in the BMX chase scene [from] E.T. and the motorbike in Terminator 2 and a French film called Subway with Christopher Lambert from the '80s and roller-skate chases through the Paris Metro. And there was another French film called Diva also out in the '80s where this opera singer guy on a moped is chased. I was careful in Attack the Block not to homage anything directly. I’m not interested in references and spoofing -- “Oh, look, it’s just like…!” But I tried to focus on the spirit of things I like.

One of the things you did was kill off one of the focal character's dogs, then him, fairly early. You took a big risk.

JC: Yeah, that was a big no-no! You can kill a human but not an animal. And not only that, my lead character attacks a girl at the beginning. I broke all the rules.That's what rules are for, though, right?

You deal with a kind of skewed morality. The gang leader apologizes for attacking the woman, saying they wouldn't have if they knew she lived in their building.

JC: It’s territory. The monsters in the film are territorial, and kids are like that. They don’t have money so they put value into what they do have -- the place they live and their sense of solidarity and ownership. Moses starts to learn the truth about how blind and animalistic it is. Defending your territory is futile, and he’s better than that.

I don't suppose you'll be getting any awards from the London Tourism people, based on your depiction of life in council estates.

JC: "It’s a movie" is the first thing to say, and historically, movies are attracted to crime and underworld... It’s concentrated and simplified to work as a movie, but what is true is that there are young people growing up in difficult circumstances -- not just England [but in] any city in the world -- sometimes pretty young, [who] make serious mistakes [ and are] demonized, dehumanized. This is an attempt to redress the issue.

The movie's short and sweet, but you've given us room to care for each of the kids.

JC: If people care for the kids, that’s largely down to the actors themselves. I had 11 kids from ages 10 to 17, and almost all of them were first-timers. They hadn’t been in front of any camera ever before, and they were amazingly passionate and clever and articulate, and one or two had similar backgrounds to what we showed. All actors, performers, none live the lives of the characters. They know people or have experienced that world, but they aren’t these characters. They are actors capable of doing the work. I tried to capture them and their characters, and make sure they were relaxed enough to be onset, and we did a lot of rehearsals and they become friends. They were just so lovable in life, children with the hope and poise and expectations. As tough as they try to make themselves seem, as worldly wise as they pretend to be, they are just kids, and that’s the story of the film. All kids make like they can deal with it. They have as much anxiety and confusion; adults only have permission to have that anxiety. Kids' peers can be quite ruthless, so it’s a front. They seem tough, and you can't tell how old they are, because they’re masked and hooded. The story's process was to take down that mask and front, and see that they are children who make mistakes.

And they learn pretty fast to take responsibility without adult help.

JC: Adults make mistakes, as well. Young people more than older people are collectively responsible, and to betray them as anything other than human can make the problem worse. Kids live up to expectations. They’re bad, and they’re likely to be bad. We have to encourage positivity and love and responsibility. That’s why I wrote that story. I had compassion toward the characters. I was mugged myself by young kids in 2001 -- pretty tame experience -- but it made me fascinated by the young people and fake-like role-playing situations, and also because I loved E.T. and Gremlins, but I’d never seen a story set where I lived.

Mentoring these child actors must have been rewarding.

JC: Mentoring, that’s one of the most rewarding and enjoyable parts of the experience, and I'm so happy [actor] John Boyega did it. He had never been on camera! I found him in a play in North London. He's a serious actor, and now he's 17, and he's in Los Angeles, and he's represented by CAA. He would have done it without us one way or another. But I feel quite a sense of responsibility. It would have been so awful to embarrass them or let them down, and we’re all so happy people dig the film.

Attack the Block's getting an unusual marketing push. You're working on no budget, with private and word-of-mouth screenings.

JC: If it successful, it will be because of word of mouth. We don't have a multimillion-dollar campaign. I'm not shoving it down anyone’s throat. If it succeeds, it’s because people talk about it, to be honest.

And things have come full circle for you. You're doing The Adventures of Tintin with Steven Spielberg.